Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I'm kind of hesitant to give five-stars to four episodes of one old television series, but NAKED CITY: PRIME OF LIFE presents a strong sampling of a remarkable series. If it matters the episodes on this dvd aren't presented in chronological order.
The first is `Prime of Life' (originally aired Feb. 13, 1963) and features Paul Burke as Det. Adam Flint, a New York City policeman out of the 65th Precinct, who has been summoned to witness his first execution by electrocution. This episode is filled with a lot of interior monologue provided by Det. Flint, who isn't sure he wants to witness an execution, and is peppered with flashback scenes of the violent crimes committed by the man sentenced to die. `Naked City' was, famously, shot on the streets of New York, and that quasi-documentary quality gives this one a lot of body, as well as guiding the cast and crew to keep it as natural as possible. Much of `Prime of Life' takes place in an execution chamber, probably a set, but it has a real feel to it. Det. Flint, we learn early on, is a sensitive individual who doesn't necessarily relish the idea of watching a vicious criminal put to death. A nice, in-depth exploration of the death penalty seen from a cop's point of view. This episode also includes a very young Gene Hackman, in a small role, as a court reporter/reluctant witness.
Robert Duvall plays Francis L. Childe in `The One Marked Hot Gives Cold,' (March 21, 1962.) Duvall plays a troubled young man who's chased by the police after stealing records and files from the orphanage he was raised in. Duvall, as you'd expect, gives an intelligent and sensitive portrayal of a violent man who befriends a young girl (Laurie Heineman) while searching for the father who'd abandoned him (Edward Andrews.)
One of the oddest entries is `Hold for Gloria Christmas' (Sept. 19. 1962.) Burgess Meredith plays the mad/brilliant Greenwich Village poet Duncan Kleist who, over time, has sold the original drafts of his poems to bartender Stanley Dorkner (Herschel Bernardi) to pay off his prodigious bar tab. Now the destitute Poet wants them back, and the Bartender doesn't want to give them to him without getting $500 in cash in return. Young star spotters will want to keep their eyes open for Alan Alda in a small role, and a blink-and-you'll-miss-her appearance by Jessica Walter.
Diahann Carroll plays a teacher of pre-teen, visually impaired children in `A Horse Has a Big Head - Let Him Worry!' (Nov. 21, 1962.) The boys from 65th Precinct are called on the case when one of Carroll's `legally blind' children slips off an inner-city bus and gets lost in New York City.
As narrator Lawrence Dobkin tells us at the end of each episode, there are 8 million stories in the naked city. These shows tell those stories by taking the viewer to the real streets of a real city, and besides the stories it's a blast seeing what the place and people looked like forty years ago. It also tells the stories by getting under the characters' skins and into their heads, dragging Freud along with them in the process. Writing, acting, photography, are all top-notch. If you're a fan of police procedurals with heavy emphasis on the human element, this is a can't miss.
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